SRINAGAR, July 6: Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah Friday said that empowerment of general public is imperative for good governance and bringing transparency in administrative functioning.

“I have put this aspect in full focus to shift the authority from apex to the grass root level”, he said adding that empowerment of Panchayats, Enactment of Public Service Guarantee Act (PSGA) and constitution of State Right to Information Commission under RTI Act are historic initiatives taken in this regard by the coalition government.

Omar Abdullah said that he was keen to see people actively participating in the process of development and asking questions to the government about financial transactions, allotment of works, physical achievements and outcome of spending on ground. “To achieve this goal we have enacted legislations, strengthened the institutions and made administration answerable before common people”, he maintained.

Talking to a group of Sarpanches and Panches from Rajouri at his Friday Awami Mulakat here, the Chief Minister said that powerful Panchayat Raj is an effective tool to involve grass root public representatives in decision making and funds spending from Halqa Panchayat to district levels. He said his government has transferred services from various public service departments to these basic democratic institutions to address public needs. He said he has allotted Rs. 41 crores to the panchayat institutions last year to undertake smaller development works at panchayat halqa level requiring early attention.

The Chief Minister said that reaching out to people in all areas to give considerable fillip to the policy of equitable development initiated by his government in the State has been made an essential part in the functioning of the government. He said public liaison through Awami Mulakats, interaction meetings with civil society, registration and addressing the public grievances in the Grievance Cell and people’s contact programmes have been introduced to strengthen public rapport and addresses the problems of people.

Omar Abdullah said that his government is committed to the holistic development of the State. He said prompt and transparent administration is his mission. “I want public to be empowered enough to demand service delivery in a time bound manner”, he said and asked the people to take best advantage of PSGA in this regard.

Omar said that the initiative of third party independent monitoring, e-tendering and e-procurement introduced by his government in various departments and implementation of RTI has helped to create transparency in the functioning of government departments.

More than 50 deputations and scores of individuals met the Chief Minister in his today’s Awami Mulakat and brought to his notice various issues pertaining to the welfare and development. The individuals explained their problems and sought the intervention of the Chief Minister for redressal.

SRINAGAR, July 6: Jamat-e-Islami, which has been facing the severe criticism over last few days for its statement over the dressing of tourists coming to valley from across the world today defended itself saying it did not issue any diktat regarding the dress code of the tourist but appealed the tourism department to keep the cultural ethos of the land in consideration while promoting the tourism.
Spokesman of Jamat, Advocate Zahid Ali, talking to Kashmir Times over phone said, “We are also th